So just what can a boy do in twelve days. Check out these activities from our just-ended 12-day trip to New England.

Broke out of a couple of escape rooms.

Visited LL Bean’s flagship store.

Toured the Maine Maritime Museum.

Stopped at a roadside oddity – Perry’s Tropical Nuthouse.

Went sea kayaking on Frenchmen’s Bay around Bar Harbor.

Toured Acadia National Park by bike led by a volunteer park ranger.

Explored the village of Bar Harbor.

Held a miniature golf just-for-fun tournament (well, with a few cash prizes thrown in).

Explored some of the sites in Acadia National Park including Cadillac Mountain and Thunder Hole.

Climbed Mt. Washington, NH via the oldest cog railway in the world.

Hiked on the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains National Forest and got to meet a family of through-hikers including a boy their age. They were just 300 miles away from completing the 2,100 mile trek.

“And remember, also…that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you’ll reach them all, for what you learn today…will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.”

--From The Phantom Tollbooth, a wonderful book I used to read with my fifth graders when I was teaching in Asheville.

​And so Sunday we’re off to discover new things with a new group of boys. This will be the beginning of the 42nd summer of these trips.

We have two trips this summer. Our first is five days to the North Carolina High Country (area around Boone) June 23-27 and then in July we fly to Portland, Maine and begin a 12 day adventure in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont – July 14-25.

So it’s a bit late to sign up for this summer, but we want you to know sign-ups are open now for our 2020 season. We’ll be having just one trip – but’s a doozy and we’re to the place where we’ve been more than any other: Wyoming & Montana. Info can be found, along with the application, at: http://www.mindstretchadventures.com/2020-wyoming--montana.html​

The Great Teton National Park and the Snake River

This photo is from our 2016 Wyoming-Montana trip. We discovered a real phone booth at Colter Bay in the Grand Teton National Park. The boys in the foreground are attempting to hide the boys in the background who were attempting to see how many guys they could stuff into the booth. Now I’m not going to tell you whose idea this was, but definitely not mine! In any case, no park ranger came upon the scene at this moment and we quickly hightailed it out of there. In the meantime, we had a blast.

You never know what kind of fun we’ll have on one of our trips, but you won’t know if you’re not with us.

While most boys at summer camp pretty much stay at camp all day or rarely leave the county, the boys on a MTA experience are constantly experiencing new things in new places. One example this coming summer is our ride up to the top of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire by cog railway. The Mount Washington Cog Railway, a National Historic Engineering Landmark, is one of those memorable experiences most boys never have. A cog railway, in case you haven't a clue, is the only way of getting a “train” up very steep inclines. This train, a marvel of 19thCentury engineering, is powered up and down the steep tracks with either diesel or coal-fired steam but the fun is understanding how the cogs work to keep it from slipping back down. That you’ll have to experience this summer. From the summit of Mt. Washington we’ll have 360-degree views of five states, Canada, and the Atlantic Ocean.

We’ve always boasted that no day is ever the same on a MTA experience and that is so true! But even when we have a day planned…the unexpected comes up to just make the day even more extraordinary. Case in point: North Carolina Mountains adventure in 2017. We were spending a few hours one day in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and just so happened to arrive at the ranger station at the right time. They were having an all-day round-robin kind of activity program that day and if we participated in enough of the activities we could all (yes, ALL) become Junior National Park Rangers.

And so this photo is of the swearing-in ceremony after our day. All the boys (and adults) 13 years or older earned the title of Not-So-Junior Ranger and I have the patch and certificate to prove it. Being a national park ranger was one of my dream jobs back when I was just starting these travel programs and thanks to being with MTA at the right time…I can check that off!

No telling what extraordinary things will pop up this summer, but we hope you’ll check the website and get started wondering.

What an adventure we had in the Colorado Rockies. For the second year boys didn’t have their electronics with them and for five days they didn’t even have TVs. It was refreshing. One night we had three bats in the commons room of our lodge at Snow Mountain Ranch. The entertainment of watching and helping the maintenance staff trap the bats caused one boy to say, “This is better than TV.”

We did tons of activities during our two weeks. A few of the highlights included taking in a professional baseball game, touring places such as the Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center, the US Olympic Training Center, the Air Force Academy, a goldmine (1,000 feet below the surface of the earth), hiking the Manitou Incline (just about the steepest hike one could imagine and 15 of our boys chose to conquer it), taking the cog railroad to the top of Pike’s Peak. Boys tackled a high ropes adventure course, a climbing tower, and a zip-line. Many boys went on a horseback trail ride, some went fishing, some went canoeing, some tried out archery…and the list continues.

It was a wonderful trip that will give these boys a lifetime of memories.

If you missed the activities, you can check out our daily blog and photo albums at:https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindstretch/albums

During my first year of my travel camp program in 1978 I experienced the enjoyment of participating in a National Park ranger-led program for the first time. And it was way back then that I imagined how cool that would be to serve as a National Park Ranger. Well, years passed, decades passed…and it was never going to happen. But then I thought with retirement all but here, perhaps I could be a volunteer “ranger” at a nearby park like the Carl Sandburg Home or Cowpens National Battlefield site.

And now my dream has been fulfilled. Just this past week, when out adventuring with 22 kids in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I had the honor of having the title of “Not-So-Junior Ranger” bestowed upon me by Ranger Savannah and Ranger Mark (no, not this Mark). And I have the certificate and the patch to prove it!

It all happened while the MindStretch Travel Adventures boys were earning their “Junior Park Ranger” certificate and badge that I found out “not-so-junior” people (anyone 13 or over) could also get involved and become “rangers.” And so, there you have it. A life-long dream fulfilled.

No, I don't have dual nationality...but I do have two passports. In the background is my brand new US Passport which just arrived last week. I'm saving it for next summer's 20-day trip to Europe.

In the front is my other passport, the "Passport to Your National Parks." This passport is a highly recommended souvenir for all MTA participants. It's cheap and it never expires.

It comes with a map of all the units in the National Park system and lots of space to stamp your visit to any of those units. Each park has its own rubber stamp with date that boys use to mark their visit. It's a fun way to keep track of places they've visited.

This summer boys on the North Carolina trip can certainly stamp their passports at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We should also be able to pick up a stamp somewhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Boys on the Colorado trip can certainly gets theirs stamped at the visitor center along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.

There should be other places along the way that will also have stamps. So guys, pick up one of these online or at Cowpens National Battlefield or other NPS locations.